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It comes following a startling admission from the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which reported that
435,000 undocumented migrants with criminal convictions have
been released by the agency to cities around the country.
ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner sent a letter to U.S.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, saying as of July 21, there were
662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on the agency’s
non-detained docket (NDD), meaning they are not detained while
they await immigration proceedings, The Center Square reported.
“Of those, 435,719 are convicted criminals, and 226,847 have
pending criminal charges,” Lechleitner wrote.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said Illinois law prohibits
law enforcement from cooperating with U.S. immigration
authorities.
“If ICE never knew they were there, which is the law in
Illinois, then that person is going to walk right back out the
jail door or the Department of Corrections door at the end of
their sentence and right back into our local communities, and
that’s the problem,” said Rose.
Rose said with everything Gov. Pritzker has done to make
Illinois a “homing beacon” for noncitizens, including free
health care options, Illinois must be getting its fair share of
undocumented criminals and he wants the state to reveal the
numbers.
ICE reports that nearly 16,000 noncitizens convicted of sexual
assault have been released, and over 56,000 who have been
convicted of drug possession were released.
State Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, said Illinois’ Trust Act is
tying the hands of law enforcement.
“We have a large unknown number of noncitizens here with violent
criminal convictions, or pending charges, and we can’t do
anything about it,” said Tracy. |
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